How to be the best.. an example.

I wanted to give you an example of what I mean by learning how to play your class. (and in a way how not too) Watch the retribution paladin at the end of this fight, I will explain his actions and tell you a bit more about him after the video. (warning foul language occurred during this fight, please just read the excerpt below if you are potentially offended)

The retribution paladin in this video turned what should have been a wipe into a successful boss kill. Both healers (yes, one of them is me) died because we were to focused on healing others and not focused enough on keeping ourselves up. (a mistake that rarely happens to either of us anymore) At the end of the video you will notice that the paladin throws two heals at the death knight tank, just enough to keep him up for a bit. Then he casts Lay of Hands on the paladin tank. Then casts some heals on himself and then keeps the paladin tank up the rest of the fight. This teenager, yes you read that right, knows his class so well that when he was needed to perform outside his normal role, he did so with the knowledge of a true winner. This teenager is now the off tank for our second ten man group and impresses me every time I raid with him. In fact on the first night of the second groups raiding, we entered ToC for the weekly raid quest. Rezail (the paladin) myself and two dps finished off Icehowl from 30% health. (I know, screen shot or it didn’t happen, but I was a bit busy to take a pic) This kid is the best.

So now you want to know why he is the best? Because he studies the fights, he knows his class, he follows instructions well, he never loses sight of what is happening around him. (even if I do) Every player who wants to see this kind of success in-game needs to emulate this kind of knowledge about your class. The Insiders guild had a motto when they first started raiding. “We do more with less.” Often times our raid teams down bosses before we are really geared to do it. Your guild can have that same success.

Now you want to know were to go to learn your class. Try starting at http://elitistjerks.com/. Read the class threads. Once you have an understanding of your class, from there go to specific class sites. Also, every time a patch comes out make sure you read the changes and go back to Elitist Jerks to see how those changes affected your class. (just a tip, Rogues may want to check back there more often)

I apologize for not putting a comparison of this and firefighting in here. It just didn’t seem to fit quite right.